Jherek turns 3! (or 5-same difference)

Remember a while back when I posted a little boy named Keon ? We did a Birthday Session for him.

This little guy



SO CUTE!

Well last week his big brother got his birthday pics! 3 years old!! We had so much fun playing in the dirt and climbing rocks-he had no clue he was even being photographed. Such a fun, silly and vivacious little man! And 200% boy!





Him and his brother are about the same ages as my two girls. I always love interacting with kiddos similar to mine-particularly boys. They were walking on rocks and had dirt all over their hands (and faces) and were just loving it. And of course their beautiful mommy fully supported it :)



"Jherek how old are you?"



(close enough...and I adore his dirty hand!)



Happy Birthday Jherek!!! I hope you never outgrow your curiosity and sweet spirit!! :)

Happy Birthday Gorgeous Samira!!!!

I had the pleasure of shooting a 40th birthday celebration for beautiful Samira a few weeks ago with Michael Buchanan! Designed around her wonderful personality and beautiful spirit this event created by the amazing SarahSophia Event Planning and Luxury Lifestyle Consulting Company was a joy to be a part of! I have worked with these ladies once a few months back when I documented a fabulous fund raising event they did at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for the Juvenile Diabetes Association Spring Fling. These ladies know how to throw a party.



From the gorgeous Raj tent to the awesome live dj to the delicious food-this was simply a completely gorgeous and totally fun afternoon honoring a very special lady.



An awesome magician delighted some guests with card tricks and humor while others enjoyed the Inspiration Table stocked with supplies for Samira's guests to tap into their artist side while sharing their inspirational words of adoration and love.





Samira was clearly overwhelmed with emotion when she turned the corner and saw what her sweet family and friends had created in her honor.



A gourmet lunch was served while family and friends toasted Samira who was quite obviously tremendously touched...there were definitely a few tears shed under the Raj tent :)





And just when you think things couldn't get sweeter or more fun, Samira was served a gorgeous cake which she happily wished upon...



only to look up and realize that there were 3 firefighting hunks entering her party asking whose candles were responsible for the fire code violation?



Her kind friend gladly gave her up



and the firefighter (led by the one I like to call "cute accent firefighter") pulled her from her seat as the music kicked in and took off their jackets revealing their "I Love Samira" t-shirts. Crowd pleasers indeed!!! Samira could not stop giggling :)







Laughter and dancing followed ending a beautiful birthday that will be very difficult to top! So listen up friends and family, you better jot down some tips and start planning.....My 40th birthday will sneak up on you and you better be ready :)



Happy Birthday sweet beautiful Samira!! Thank you for letting us share in your amazing day!!!

Lee & Leilani Trash the Dress

If you follow our facebook or twitter you might have seen a few weeks back some posts about an amazing Trash the Dress session that I did with the amazing Monina Wright from Natural Images Hair Design & Skin Care Studio. We have been very blessed with a very busy work schedule for the past few weeks but are finally thrilled to be able to post some images from that fabulous shoot!

You may be asking....what's a Trash the Dress session?

valid question.





Trash the Dress sessions are essentially photoshoots for married couples post wedding day but still in wedding attire. They are perfect for:

couples who did not get the images they wanted of their wedding day.



couples who got nice images on their wedding day but they were perhaps too traditional.



couples who are celebrating an important anniversary and want to get dolled up again and do something totally romantic and fun.



couples who are just fun in general and love taking pictures.



Why is is called Trash the Dress? Well it's not because we ACTUALLY destroy the dress....it basically means, since your wedding day is already over and your dress is no doubt pretty dirty from your wedding day festivities you're totally comfortable doing something completely out of the ordinary like hiking into a great wooded area for amazing shots or playing the ocean with your hubby decked out in your wedding best. Because it's not actually your wedding day there is no pressure time wise or in any other way essentially. We bring in a fabulous make up artist and hair stylist (in this case the amazing Monina) and you become a movie star for a day.



Sounds like fun huh? It is. :)





Just ask Lee & Leilani-a gorgeous couple who have been married for some time now and were just not jazzed about their wedding day pictures. Leilani was at first nervous as she's obviosuly not used to having a camera in her face but just look at this gorgeous lady!! Would you ever know she's not a pro!??





We laughed our hearts out and had an absolute ball! Lee and Leilani were amazing! Totally up for anything and obviously completely in love.





When me and Monina chatted about the design of the shoot I already knew what Leilai's dress looked like. That mixed with her personality and vibe made it clear what we should do-bohemian sheek. Of course Monina took the idea and ran as any amazing artist should. Monina was pulling twigs and incoorperating the natural vibe that was around us making for a simply sensational bohemian sheek "bride".

look at this gorgeous lady hiking through the thick makeup in tow :)





Thanks you so much for everyone who supported us on that amazing day including Cassie Koch and Michael Buchanan who were most rockin assistants anyone could ask for!!

a Lily among the roses

Lillian's mommy arranged for a special birthday photography session just for her to celebrate her first year! The Rose Garden is simply gorgeous this time of the year and so peaceful in the morning which made for a lovely and completely fun shoot with this little angel!



It's hard to believe when taking pictures in honor of a little one's birthday that Maribella's first birthday was well over 3 years ago! I so clearly remember all of the time and effort and MONEY that went into that birthday blow that she will never remember..but even still I stand by my efforts...I mean look at this chunk! You'd go broke too!!







1 year olds are SO STINKING CUTE! You can just see their little brains going a mile a minute taking everything in! My own 1 year old stopped DEAD in her tracks today and looked up at the sky and squeeled at the top of her lungs....because she saw an airplane waaayyyy up in the sky. Man, those were the days.

Happy Birthday to sweet Lillian! I know your mommy and daddy are going to celebrate it to the max just as you deserve! :)

Things to come....

So much going on right now which has left me a little behind. While I cannot disclose some of the new fun things on the horizon, I can share some fun stuff from the last few weeks!

Recently my husband and I were so honored to be asked to model for an incredible workshop called The Art of Directing by Tanja Lippert and Tia Reagan. Tanja is an absolutely amazing film photographer and along with her bud Tia (an amazing stylist) put together a fabulous workshop in an old abandoned prison! When new workshops are announced I will be sure to share!

As soon as her pictures are available I will be sure to post them! In the mean time here are a few taken by the awesome Joanne Encarnation while at the workshop!


It was such an amazing education for me as a photographer for so many reasons-right up there at the top? Experiencing all of those nervous, awkward, timid & sometimes embarrassed emotions that come along with getting your picture taken! Wouldn't you know it? There are very few real pictures of me out there because I'm always behind the camera and prefer to stay there! But this little refresher was just perfect for me to once again remember why it is so critical for me to invest 1000% of my energy and emotion into making sure that my clients feel comfortable, beautiful and absolutely care free.

No doubt there are some insanely awesome Tanja Lippert photos on the way which of course I will share here! :)

And just to brighten your day, here are a few things I snagged from the past week! Cutie pies EVERYWHERE!!!